The Beyoncé producer BOOTS, aka Jordy Asher, has been releasing a bunch of promising solo material lately, and today he leaked a couple more examples of his dark-hued, futuristic R&B. “My Heart Is A Stone Today (Unharmed)” is the most upbeat, poppy single he’s unveiled so far, but it’s still far ...

The people in charge of putting together the soundtrack to Divergent, the forthcoming sci-fi young-adult blockbuster adaptation, have kept things ostentatiously of-the-moment. Various songs on the Divergent soundtrack album pair up Kendrick Lamar with Imagine Dragons, or A$AP Rocky with Gesaffelstein. But the first song we’ve heard fro...

Elliott Smith at the 70th Academy Awards ceremony: When it’s mentioned, it’s as one of those cautionary anecdotes, an example of the fundamental incompatibility of the underground with commercial artistry. But it’s all there, or if it isn’t, we can pretend it is. Trisha Yearwood has finished her performanc...

Rapper/singer's Saturday night slot begins this weekend    

YG’s DJ Mustard-produced slap “My Nigga” is one of the most satisfying California rap anthems to come along in recent months, and it’s also a near-perfect example of Mustard’s spacey, squelching production style. Other than YG, the original track had no West Coast rappers; it had Jeezy on a verse...